The apprentices arrived early, unsure what to expect, for nobody of major importance — let alone a member of the royal family — had visited their Limehouse Youth Centre before.

But on a red letter day for the apprentices at City Gateway, our partner in the paper’s Ladder for London campaign, the Duke of York did not disappoint, staying for two electrifying hours and winning them over with his humour and passion for their cause. “What’s your view of the Job Centre? How did you motivate yourself to apply for jobs after all that rejection? How has your life changed?” Prince Andrew asked youngsters whose futures have been transformed by our apprenticeship campaign. They, in turn, opened up and spoke with rare candour.

“My dad was in prison, my mum worked all hours, I was left on my own and got into trouble … then I came here, got an apprenticeship with Reebok Gym and everything changed,” said Josh Silverman, 24.

Sana Babar, 19, added: “I applied for like 3,000 jobs with no success, my self-esteem was on the floor, but thanks to City Gateway and the Evening Standard, I have an apprenticeship with Goldman Sachs and I feel such hope for my future.”

More than 200 recruits had come to City Gateway’s facility, wedged between the City and Canary Wharf, to meet Prince Andrew and to hear him announce his delight at becoming patron of Ladder for London.

Sarah Sands, editor of the Evening Standard, and the paper’s owner Evgeny Lebedev also met His Royal Highness and the apprentices on a day in which our campaign to tackle youth unemployment soared past our initial goal of creating 500 apprenticeships before Christmas. In just 10 weeks, 198 organisations — from British Gas to the Royal Opera House — have agreed to hire 543 apprentices.

Asked how he relates to marginalised young people whose upbringing is so unlike his own, Prince Andrew said: “My situation was of course different but similar in that I also decided not to go to university. I effectively decided to do an apprenticeship with the Navy where I learned how to become a helicopter pilot.

“I was 19 at the time, same age as these guys, and they face the same problem in that they want to learn a skill and get onto the first rung of the ladder. Unless we get our young people skilled, we cannot hope to compete on the world stage.”

The visit to City Gateway began with founder Eddie Stride outlining what they do. “We work with people who have messy lives. One young man, Danny, he stole from us, even stole from me, he had a gambling habit. Turns out he’d had two heart operations, was told he couldn’t work and got depressed sitting at home, so he gambled and smoked marijuana. He came on our pre-apprenticeship training, cleaned up, and now he’s a driver for our catering social enterprise. His life? Transformed.”

Prince Andrew asked: “Are there blockages in the system that prevent you being even more effective?” Mr Stride said: “Until recently, the problem was a lack of jobs, but Ladder for London changed that by encouraging businesses to take apprentices. I believe we are on course to put 1,000 jobless young people into work through apprenticeships in 2013, an amazing achievement, but it presents us with a funding challenge.

“We have a £2 million funding gap because the Government only fund 50 per cent of the cost of training 19 to 24-year-olds. Although the Government love what we’re doing, and say they want to help, they need to fund 100 per cent of apprenticeship training costs of social enterprises like ourselves to allow us to be fully effective.”

Earlier in the week in Downing Street, Mr Stride was praised by David Cameron at a Big Society event “for creating hundreds of new jobs with the Evening Standard through the Ladder for London” campaign.

Prince Andrew felt the Government could do more to address the problem of almost a million youth unemployed countrywide. “The system is rather like a river that’s got clogged up, not in one but in several places. I know this may sound, not necessarily patronising, but it’s not rocket science, though some people try to make it rocket science. There is too much talk and not enough doing.

“What’s going on at City Gateway is truly remarkable. Yet even you got to a point where you couldn’t get to the next level. Along comes the Evening Standard and the Ladder for London campaign and opportunities suddenly start to arrive.

“What you have both shown is inspirational leadership. You have understood the problem and gripped it. I am delighted to become patron of Ladder for London and help in whatever way I can. If we can team up, we can be even more successful.”

The Duke of York was introduced to some of the Ladder for London apprentices, including the 10 who have started at Goldman Sachs.

To deafening applause, Prince Andrew addressed Mr Stride and the young apprentices in the facility’s gymnasium, praising his “inspirational leadership”, the “brilliant work of his team” and the young people who had been through so much, encouraging them to erase the word “can’t” from their vocabulary.

“I felt really honoured to meet him,” said teenager Melisha Kaur, who prior to getting an apprenticeship through Ladder for London had applied for 2,500 jobs without success.

“It was amazing to see him taking such an interest in us young people!”

As Prince Andrew left, Mr Stride was buzzing. “Yesterday the Prime Minister, today the Duke of York! What next? I loved how down to earth he was, and how he put the young people at ease.

“This is the dream team, man — The Duke, the Evening Standard, and City Gateway — bringing jobs and hope to our great city.”